Ah! It's a snow day today, and I feel like a billion bucks!
An uneasy silence filled the estate. Everyone knew what had happened, and they knew what they had to do. Despite that, the situation still shocked them. Yuffie and Marlene had been kidnapped.
Cloud looked over the letter over and over again with a magnifying glass, becoming angrier by the second.
"Come to Taipei if you want to see them alive…and healthy."
A fake Blue Lotus symbol finished it off.
A knock came at the door and Cloud hid the magnifying glass. Vincent walked in, escorted by Heather.
"Mr. Strife…we'll be leaving early tomorrow morning for Taipei…we will do our best to rescue Marlene."
He nodded gravely to Vincent and said nothing. Vincent turned to leave, but stopped at the threshold of the door.
"This is a low tactic…using the innocence of a child to get the upper hand…but that's Blue Lotus… criminals are like that."
Heather waited until Vincent was completely out of the suite. She heard the front door click shut.
"Cloud…should we tell them?"
"We can't," Cloud replied. "In order to tell them, we need to explain thoroughly. In order to explain thoroughly, we need a lot of time. We don't have that luxury…I don't have the luxury."
"Then we let them go off into the lion's den?!" Heather cried.
Cloud handed her the short letter. She looked over it for the second time.
"Of course not…I'm the one they want."
He took a deep breathe and scratched his head as if it helped him think.
"Cid is going with them, right?"
Heather nodded confidently.
"Good…you will hold the fort down at the nightclub with Barret…call Miss Gainsborough and tell her that I am taking a business leave…more than a week but less than a month…call Marlene's school and tell them that she is on vacation. I'll schedule two plane tickets to Taipei…the next flight to Taipei…right after they leave… Shera and I will follow closely and discreetly…as soon as we rescue them, we'll wing it from there. Go tell Cid right now…"
"There's no need," Cid interrupted. "I heard it all."
Heather smiled in relief. She was not good with remembering details.
"Great!" she said. "Now I won't have to say it word from word."
"Shera can go," Cid said. "But I think it would be best if you stayed."
Cloud and Heather stared at him with big, dinner plate eyes. Cid groaned, not wanting to explain. He hated it when people looked at him that way.
"Stay?!" Cloud replied. "You're joking right?"
Cid swallowed a lump in his throat and looked down at his feet.
"Forget I even said it."
----------
"May I have your attention please?" the announcer boomed. "Terminal 36 B will be boarding in twenty minutes…"
Cid kept a weary eye on their guide; the mystery lady. She fiddled around with a pair of sunglasses and sighed helplessly. She noticed Cid's gaze and showed her discomfort.
"How old are you?" Cid asked.
"I'm not yet twenty, sir. Why?"
"I was just curious…"
Cid felt an unwanted arm snake on his shoulders.
"I didn't know you were interested in younger girls," Reno teased. "Well sure…I knew that Vincent was…but you?
The Asian lady slightly blushed and held her cheek. Tifa and Vincent looked at each other and stifled a laugh. Cid stared at her in horror. He violently thrust the arm off in annoyance.
"What are you spouting? A twelve-year girl has been kidnapped; this is no time for foolishness!"
Cid got up from his seat and told them that he was getting a drink before they boarded.
"The situation is dire," Vincent said. "But the least he could do is lighten up."
"It's almost as if he's underestimating us," Reno added.
"Or maybe," the woman interrupted, "he feels that you are overestimating yourselves..."
Tifa hummed silently in agreement.
"I know that this is going to become a mess," she thought. "Not knowing what kind of mess makes me nervous."
----------
Cid thanked the bartender and handed him a tip. He left the bar, ready to take on the irritations once more. He weaved through the crowd and glanced at his watch: five minutes till boarding.
A hand lightly grabbed his arm.
"We leave 45 minutes after you...call me when you stop at Tokyo...as soon as you can."
Cid managed to catch a glimpse of a girl, with shoulder-length light brown hair.
"How the hell did you manage to pin up that long mesh of blonde hair under that wig?" Cid asked.
"Shera had to do it for me," Cloud replied sheepishly. "I'm pathetic when it comes to doing a woman's hair."
"Cloud?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful...just remember that, okay?"
Cid continued walking and was consumed in the large crowd. Cloud mentally shrugged and left for his own terminal.
"Why does Aunt Lucrecia hate me?"
Elizabeth Strife sat upright in the bath tub. A seven-year-old Cloud stared at his mother with curious eyes. Lizzy smiled and splashed soap off of his arm.
"She doesn't hate you," she answered. "She's just a little jealous of me...she doesn't know how deal with you yet."
"Why?"
"She got cancer after Scarlet was born...she can't have anymore children."
Cloud saw the sadness in his mother's eyes.
"Did Scarlet make her sick?" Cloud asked.
Lizzy stared at her son in disbelief and began to laugh. Cloud quickly showed that he was offended, and she hugged him apologetically, still recovering.
"No," she answered. "It was probably going to happen no matter what...she just feels cheated that I can still have children and she can't. Scarlet is the only child she has...and the only child she's going to get."
"Maybe it's because Scarlet came out rotten, and I didn't!"
Lizzy gave Cloud a stern look.
"Don't say things like that...that's very rude!"
"You and Papa do..."
A twenty-nine year old woman had just been bested by a seven-year-old boy. He was definitely getting smarter.
"Ah...well at least I have you...I may be able to have more children...but I'm not sure if I want another...I already gave birth to a handful...I'm not so sure that you didn't come out rotten yourself."
"Hey!" Cloud shouted.
Back to reality, Cloud realized that he had stopped walking. Another shot a pain went through his head.
"That...that's nonsense. Shera and I are a year apart...Shera's here..."
Cloud shook his head vigorously and continued to make his way through the crowd...back to the terminal and to his cousin.
End of Phase Two